Unreported World: Obesity In Paradise

[Music] tonight unreported world reveals a Paradise Lost an obesity crisis amongst Pacific Islanders American Samoa now has the fattest population on earth with 93 percent of its adults overweight or obese its neighbors Samoa is not far behind Sophie Morgan is in the Samoan Islands to investigate and the film does contain some medical procedures in the heart of the South Pacific Ocean Samoa is one of the most remote islands in the world I've arrived here from New Zealand a five-hour flight Samoans are embracing every aspect of modern life but there are consequences and the Samoan Islands now have some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the world in Samoa and neighboring American Samoa 9 out of 10 adults are obese or overweight I'm here to meet two of them tabata - harmony from Samoa weighs 27 stone his kidneys are failing his doctors say he's eating himself to death and he's only 33 yeah so kiddie blokey the oligarchy mode when an apple are you in American Samoa Lori Mae has type 2 diabetes brought on by obesity she's going blind and she's had two toes amputated she's 28 faced you wish to without cry now she's pregnant and if she doesn't lose weight doctors fear she may lose her unborn child to start my investigation into what's happening I've come to a weight loss bootcamp in Samoas Capital Area it's being filmed for a local TV show called Samoas Biggest Loser I don't envy loneliness Hey Tabitha's the heaviest contestant he's a former taxi driver and is so obese his blood pressures dangerously high which is damaging his kidneys that'll be too silly namitha política for native son number one oval I need to pick up older Mullaly why he should move my family I'm gonna miss alipio face is he full on my roller supermodel do it now for one the other new Emani the contestants are doing a fitness test where they have to run faster and faster despite his best efforts taffeta is one of the first to drop out his wife Sarah is here to support him statutory wife every day I eat too much and I dream South dreams and lot of the wrongful taffeta tells me until recently he was drinking two liters of sugar packed fizzy drink every day do you worry about your health I'm so worried about for my life because I know I'm too much heavy and yeah I'm so worried because I really love for my wife and my kids and my families yeah most of the people here are very aware that if they don't change their lifestyle they might die the big question is though is that motivation enough for them to change their diet I want to find out what Tabata and others on this island have been eating that's making them so overweight he's about to do his weekly shop this is exercise for you Tabitha's got two types of food on his shopping list first locally grown veg for his weight loss diet then the food he and his family prefer all imported so what kind of meat do you like to get real it lamb then in the last few decades mutton flaps from New Zealand have become a Samoan favourite there's a lot fun me I've heard this cheap off cut of sheep belly is over 40 percent fat they don't eat it in New Zealand they use it as dog food this meat isn't sold in other countries did you know that they walk I do believe I'm avi you did indeed yeah the if you get from a powerful we are using the earlier are the okiya Palermo quality now made by madam the idea one while Tabata pays I noticed an entire aisle of another favorite Samoan food so this corned beef has over twenty percent fat which is over double what you would find in the same product in the UK a lot of tinned food gets sent to Samoa because it's so remote [Music] that night Tabata takes us to dinner at his dad's farm where he grew up high for himself taffetas cooking his fat free dish of veggies yeah only me ID enough I gotta support I'll go for everyone else including me get some mutton flaps don't think there's any meat yeah there's a lot of fat and a little bit of meat by my rough calculations this one plate contains more than half of my recommended daily calories regular family gatherings accompanied by big meals are an important part of Samoan life is it cheaper or is it more expensive to be healthy Magilla way if I go fearfully I'm Ella McGuire I anything or fearly yummy ie mastoid for mallalieu inna peel me IMO my yellow for new and my lumia are you so if Simone's can survive of local produce why do they eat some healthily okay no my Yoli almost fully only Olaf only decision all if I own a la cama Calle they tell me local food is often seen as inferior to imported food taffetas got his work cut out if he wants to see his kids follow his new diet and eat veggies [Laughter] eating really fatty food can be quite dangerous do you worry about your children falling into the same trap that you find to nibble Yaya Yaya together fighting are you mom yeah we were up all year nearly yes I hope you feel free I am NOT oh my I want to know more about the problems obesity causes in Samoa which only has a population of 200,000 they've had to set up a diabetic foot clinic it's run by Helene East Ellen a new patient has just come in for an appointment we've been given permission to film but she doesn't want to be identified like one in five people in Samoa 41 year old Annie has type 2 diabetes caused by obesity the disease damages nerve endings and restricts blood flow she can't feel her feet and now her left foot has collapsed it's probably not gonna heal until she loses some more weight I'm going to use this disposable scalpel blade the wounds got worse since Annie's last appointment and the flesh around it has started to die I take it back to where I think lost the dead tissue is gone and the more you get rid of the better it is for the healthy tissue to grow it's really hard to get my head around the fact that you are scraping away her flesh and it without any anesthetic another side effect of Annie's obesity is a condition called sleep apnea I noticed what she's all done as soon as you gain weight you also get poor sleep cycle so it means their sleep is not very effective so they fall asleep a lot easier throughout the day they're operating on you know like a chronic level of fatigue um yep so causes brain damage as well she can't exercise because you can't stand up because if you need too bad because of diabetes she can't lose the weight so she's getting worse that she's gaining the way it's just and when someone's of such a large weight you might think okay swimming would be a really good thing for her but she can't swim because of it wounds so like what options does she have very limited in the last 30 years the number of Samoans with type 2 diabetes has gone up 20 times so the singing you can hear is the funeral chapel for the house yes you can show this lovely it is as it is academic studies suggests the mowers at risk of becoming one of the few countries where life expectancy is falling [Music] the situation in Samoa is bad but a short flight to the east I've heard it's the worst in the world [Music] American Samoa was colonized by the United States in 1993 percent of adults here are overweight or obese it's thought to be the fattest place on earth I've been in contact with a maternity unit that treat obese pregnant women I've arranged to meet one of their patients mom Sophie I'm hearing me Lori May helps run a Sunday school at a Mormon Church [Applause] [Music] [Applause] she's got type 2 diabetes one in three people in American Samoa had the disease I want to find out how it affects her particularly now she's pregnant how pregnant are you I'm 11 week and I feel like it's been a year doctors are telling Lori May that if she doesn't cut down on sugar she risk losing her baby have you changed your diet since you've had diabetes though to be honest I don't I don't think so diabetes is already affecting her eyes and how's your eyesight only gone so I can't see anything on this side but this one I still have little hope in it that I can see with this eye but not not a hundred percent it's just like the c50 yeah after church she invites me home for the family Sunday lunch hi what are you making chicken turkey tails yes I've heard a lot about turkey tails turkey tails are the fattiest part of the bird a gland that produces oil for feathers they're imported from America and our a firm favorite and Lori Mays family so do you eat vegetables before pregnancy I I hardly did like spicy vegetables outcry I would literally cry if I look at veggies when you have your baby do you think that you would want to feed him or her veggies I guess with my experience I would love to make sure my my baby knows not to go through what I might do at a very young age that I am right now going to want this yeah cuz you're only 28 on you yeah I'm only 28 Noorie May saw her mother died young at just 48 she had diabetes too and died from a heart attack her dad Col Marni also has diabetes he now uses a wheelchair and needs constant medication have you changed a diet since you've been diagnosed with diabetes well sometimes ma will like that someone enjoying eating food so but I'm trying to what was too late after play football rugby could come and take about three or four can of soda one time that's that's I think this it's a problem so this is dead right Jackie Taylor okay yeah why do you have a deal of Lori May is meant to keep her blood sugar levels under control for her baby safety but she's struggling to cut back on sweet drinks soda was my addiction if I don't want to eat as long as I have soda I'm good because of the risks to her baby Lori may has to go for weekly medical check-ups her doctor's done a blood sugar test and after Sunday's feast I'm worried the results could be bad you don't have any other due to any medications she's seeing gynecologist dr. Frankel Japon Yin how are the results of the tests for her today hurt she saw all fine except for the blood sugar which she knows she's their bedding so and that's a big problem actually how does the blood sugar affect the baby well it affects both the mom and the baby for the baby one the worst scenario you can have you can lose the pregnancy later on you can have what we call an intrauterine that baby can die without you and me knowing it baby can grow so big to the point you might need to do a c-section for me in all honesty have you not had any sugar since you've been pregnant with um candies and stuff no I have but I know I drink juice and um fruit so yeah I do cuz yesterday at lunch we had concentrated juice which has got a lot of sugar in it well it was half water and with it so yeah that's why I didn't finish it all right I'm gonna doing monta I can't help but think that Laurie may might be not being totally honest about what she's eating I think she's eating some sugar a lot of people are in denial denial stage I don't know how well for me I learned it for some basis my daughter is diabetic so it's really hard it's hard to to know that a younger age she has diabetes and she has to stick by what supposed to be done but it's really hard this is easily said and done the consequences of being in denial are extreme the doctors tell me if I want to get a sense of how bad things are I should go to the morgue for galleys the mortician he's been working here for 20 years during that time he's seen a huge change here with Hawaii Medical Center you know it made mr. silly name up on Mississippi on special 474 be careful solid this three foot wide coffin can hold a body weighing up to 35 stone but for garloo tells us often the body's coming through here are so big a special coffin has to be made yes no money FASFA Williams for killing blow malarkey Milwaukee Lily Nike a consumer who - algunas way roma-roma-mamaa Amado fine arenas are enormous and takoyaki no mokou face sasikumar mobile morrow signal chemo it's so heartbreaking talking to the mortician who has been working here in the hospital for twenty years and has seen more and more of the young generation of his people ending up here with him on a slab and he's saying that he wishes he could meet them more in life than then in now in death it's just tragic [Music] I'm back in Samoa and heading to the diabetic foot clinic they've got a new patient Sina she's not obese but she's overweight and she has type 2 diabetes according to the World Health Organization since 1980 the global percentage of people with diabetes has more than doubled to 9% Cena has to dangerously infected wounds on her right foot Helene E has just taken a photograph of them two separate on the surface but underneath they're tunneling that means they're just sort of connecting with each other mmm that is so deep it looks right in here yes unfortunately yeah if the doctors can't control the infection they may have to amputate and worried because of my fault I don't wanna take off my fault yeah despite her situation Sina doesn't seem to know exactly what diabetes is or why she has it I really want to know what caused my babies I think from food war people access sugar in your in your blood from eating food [Music] most of our diabetic clients were pretty much having to start from the beginning on education and getting them to be aware of nutrition the clinic walls are covered with government posters warning of the dangers of junk food but despite her poor health Cena's family bring her a plate of chips and mutton flaps for lunch it's frustrating for you to see your patient sitting outside eating the foods that are on the warning posters inside the clinic well I told her off already basically that's the last time you're going to eat fries you're not allowed to eat fries in the next bed a patient has had their foot removed after an infection started to spread her Lanie's assistant is dressing the wound you know how cigarette packets have warning signs of like really horrible cancerous lumps or mouths or teeth or whatever feel like sweet packets should have warning signs of amputated feet that would be a really good one but universally I don't think someone people would look at it they'll just buy and then eat it [Music] I'm curious to see how tablet is getting on he's back at the Biggest Loser TV boot camp let's go pain is only temporary we all have pain but it's how you deal with their be acero Polly Coe is the fitness expert we'll be presenting the latest update on TV this week in your experience how many people do actually keep the weight off once they've lost it not very many less than 1% of people that participate in these sort of programs maintain the actual weight that they lose only 1% it's really low we need to find real purpose for doing things lose weight is very artificial thing to do you know the purpose is not real you can't sustain after the eight weeks it's going to all go back to normal Tabata realizes the boot camps just the start he's made a life-changing decision he's moving back to his family farm to live off the food he grows if I have a hard being away a kiddy for Skinner came upon the did he dig a who I'd matatini mama mama well I cheese I see if a Medusa hockey [Music] hello manga values are certain phenomena okay so really big moment a loaf a long way tomorrow CDI ugly what we found when we think it was our place I see my mom [Music] what's happening in the Samoan Islands shows how obesity is no longer an issue that affects only wealthy countries it's a global health crisis a recent study estimated that by 2025 around one in five adults on earth will be clinically obese [Music] Oh you

Channel: Sophie Morgan

Views: 950,519

Rating: 4.4531703 out of 5

Keywords: sophie morgan, channel 4, unreported world

Id: dJs1B-s-Dnk

Length: 24min 53sec (1493 seconds)

Published: Wed May 03 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/just_some_guy65]

It is amazing how fast fat genes took hold there, totally coincidental that unhealthy western food arrived about the same time. Edit, I watched the documentary and the complete disconnect these people have with the cause of their disease is beyond shocking, I didn't get the impression that a single person intended to change anything even though they understood about losing limbs.

[u/ToddLikesDrink]

Enlightening. OMG that foot! Ugh.

[u/Rugkrabber]

Can I just say I really like how they filmed this on the moments with the reporter. On her eye level, which is a really good choice. Was a nice video to watch.

Also very educational. Didn't know about the extra sleep cycle for example.

[u/[deleted]]

I just met a girl from Uganda. We work in a concessions stand (she's new) and she was telling me about how excited she was to go home for winter break and eat tons of fresh fruit, veggies etc. because fast food is so much more prevalent here. She also mentioned that fast food is actually more expensive than fresh fruit in Uganda. It's cool to see that some countries haven't yet been completely taken over by cheap fast food and the people are still eating the native/traditional foods, hopefully it stays that way. It's really sad though, because food is such an integral part of culture and junk food pretty much erases that for newer generations.

[u/Rhanana]

Actually that makes me so sad. I hope the guy is doing well.

[u/Abyssal_Minded]

It's usually, if not always the food. Their traditional foods and lifestyle have been taken away, and more western lifestyles and foods are promoted. Obesity would have been less of a problem if they were still able to eat traditional nutritious foods.

[u/[deleted]]

Very educational. It seems like food is the biggest obstacle especially when companies are sending certain food items since Samoa is so remote.

[u/MamaFreethinker]

The description of mutton flaps and turkey tails is what got me.

[u/[deleted]]

Goddamnit